Ever Wondered What a Vampire Death Looked Like on the Set of HBO’s True Blood?

With the 11th November 2014 release date for True Blood: The Complete Series and True Blood: The Complete Seventh Season, there has been a flurry of competition activity in relation to this final event in the life (and death) of True Blood. But what extras are included?

Well, the sneak peek video entitled Tricks of the Trade has just been released to whet your appetite. The clip features Kristin Bauer van Straten (Pamela Swynford De Beaufort), Alexander Skarsgard (Eric Northman), and Karolina Wydra (Violet) and shows some of the behind the scenes work that goes into making True Blood so magic for the audience.

Showrunner Brian Buckner and the Cast Discuss the Storylines They Would Have Liked to Explore:

With Season 7 dead and gone, truebies are still trying to work out how to fill the hole that was True Blood. Showrunner Brian Buckner and some other cast members seem to agree that perhaps there could have been a little more True Blood on out screens. Recently The Hollywood Reporter got to find out which stories went untold and which storylines the cast would like to have seen explored.

For showrunner Brian Buckner, he would have liked to have seen more of Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis):

I think he’s brilliant. I think every time he opens his mouth, something extraordinary comes out, usually that we didn’t write.

However, something Brian has learned as a writer for other TV shows is that once there is true happiness between the couple it is either time to move on or cause a conflict, so he decided to let Nelsan have the happy ending he received rather than try to cram another conflict into Season 7 for the sake of more airtime for Lala.

Joe Manganiello (who played werewolf, Alcide Herveaux), would have liked to see the relationship between Alcide and Emma (Chloe Noelle) developed. He also would have liked the storyline between Alcide and his father, Jackson Herveaux (Robert Patrick) kept. However, because of the show losing Alan Ball and then Mark Hudis in quick succession, some storylines in Season 6 were scrapped:

When you’ve got three showrunners in as many episodes, something’s got to give. That something unfortunately was my storyline. There was a plan to — [Jackson] came back for a reason, it just never happened.

Stephen Moyer (who played vampire Bill Compton) would have liked to see an exploration into why Bill and Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) had bad blood between them. As for newcomer Nathan Parsons, he would have liked some of his own flashbacks:

It would have been fun to go back to the ’70s a bit, to go back to the war going on and this hippie love child standing against it, the draft dodger, and how he paid for it

Karolina Wydra would have liked a bit more backstory for her character Violet as well. She thought this would help soothe the backlash against her character.

Which storyline would you have liked to see the writers of True Blood explore if they had more time? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!

It’s Karolina’s Turn on EJ Scott’s Podcast:

EJ Scott (who is the boyfriend of True Blood vampire Jessica Hamby) has been running a series of podcasts during Season 7 of HBO’s True Blood. You can check out all his other True Blood interviewee’s by clicking here and here. But, for now, we can add Karolina Wydra (who played vampire Violet) to the list!

Clicking on the image below will take you directly to EJ’s website where you can hear Karolina discuss:

her life in Poland before she moved to the Ocean County in California

her parents divorce

her fathers new marriage to a woman much younger

her mothers accident that sent her back to Poland

the transition from moving to a new country without knowing the language,

being a loner

her brief encounters with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Williams

meeting her current boyfriend and being in a long distance relationship

‘Violet is Trying to be a Part of Jason’s World’:

For many fans of HBO’s True Blood, Episode 8 (entitled Almost Home) was a welcome relief. When Jason Stackhouse’s (Ryan Kwanten) possessive girlfriend, 800 year old vampire Violet Mazurski, bit the dust, there was much applauding and cheering. Not only did this mean Jason was free from her barbaric clutches, but Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll), Adilyn Bellefleur (Bailey Noble) and Wade Cleary (Noah Matthews) were also safe.

But what of Violet? Was she really as scary as many fans made out? Or was she merely misunderstood? After all, a lot can change in the world after 800 years. According to the actress who played Violet, Karolina Wydra, she was very misunderstood:

Violet is not evil—I think the whole thing with this season is Violet is trying to fit into Jason’s world, and she’s so wrong in that world. You see her make such mistakes even though she’s trying to be helpful. Like when Alcide (Joe Manganiello) dies and she tells Sookie (Anna Paquin) she’s lost hundreds of boyfriends, it’s so wrong what’s coming out of her mouth, but she’s trying. She’s trying to fit into this world. You see it when you finally see her house there in episode eight, her speech about where she comes from, and you realize she’s been with the most powerful men in history, and now she’s with a regular dude. She’s trying something different, she’s trying to walk away from what she knows, but she’s too worldly and been around for too long.

While Violet seems to be out of her depth in the world she now lives in, she ended up choosing a boyfriend, who, ultimately, is out of his depth just working out whether Santa is a supernatural creature or not. For Violet, who could have bought any man in power to his knees, being with Jason Stackhouse was sort of like slumming it:

She’s lived a long time and has had many powerful men over the years, and she’d normally never go for someone like Jason. She’s been with princes, aristocratic people — the most powerful men in the world. She’s trying something new with Jason… You see how she lives in the last few episodes. You see her house and her décor and you get an idea of the kind of woman that she is. Violet is trying to be a part of Jason’s world, and she so doesn’t fit into that world. What I love about their relationship is that they’re such an odd couple but there’s still a connection — there’s something there.

Because of her age as a vampire and her aggressive nature, there would be no walking away from Violet for Jason, so, in the end, one would have to die. Karolina was a bit disappointed she was the one to die – and at the hands of Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), no less – but, at the end of the day, it was an epic death and one worthy of her character.

Before her death, she introduced a couple of young teenagers to her audacious house and sex dungeon. Karolina was most impressed – too impressed possibly – by the house and contents. The house, among other things, was once a safe haven for pregnant teens, an irony not lost on Karolina. But the sex dungeon was a whole other thing. Karolina had a ball helping find sex toys and torture devices for it:

Kate [Barnow] actually asked me what kind of torture devices we should get, so I went online and looked for Polish torture devices. It was so fun! The chair that Noah is in, normally, you would sit on these pointy, metallic things that would break into your skin. The torture devices in those days were just brutal.

Even though Karolina had fun researching this, how was she inspired to get into character?

I do visual collages that help me maintain the deep core of what’s going on with her, and I [visualized] an animal for her. She’s a black panther—the way they move, their eyes, and how they take their time with stuff. They’re very protective of their families, their little ones, and they’re nocturnal. The collages have to do with images of inspiration of who she would have been in the past, actresses that bring out her sexuality. There are many different things, images that I see that are like, that’s so Violet. Sophia Loren—her sexuality is very luscious, and with a lot of the makeup I’d ask for a cat-eye eyeliner—or a panther would be on there, and old Catholic symbolism. I had Anna Magnani. If you ever watch her work, when she got passionate, she was very passionate. She had a lot of intensity when she performed.

You can read more on this fascinating character and the woman who portrayed her on HBO’s True Blood by clicking here and here.

Find Out What Jessica Has to Say About Drinking Fairies:

In Episode 4 of the final season of True Blood we see Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) struggling with her 10 week abstinence from blood – her life force. She posts a blog about how the blood of Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) running through her veins feels so good on Baby Vamp -Jessica.com but about half way through her musings she is interrupted by Violet (Karolina Wydra) who asks her what she is doing on her laptop. When she finds out she is talking to her followers, Violet mocks her by asking,

“Do these shoes look good with my outfit? Does my boyfriend like my hair?”

Violet then pulls Jessica down a peg by comparing her blogging to the zealots in the days of the Crusades.

“Religious zealots burned my village to the ground, killing every man woman and child that did not agree to accept their truth”.

Only to give her the ultimate compliment and say;

“…I never saw you as the leader type, Impressive.”

Violet goes on to caution Jessica to get her last words right, as they are very important for a leader. You can watch the full video below – make sure you watch to the very end for an unexpected ‘surprise’. Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!

But there are now three more names to add to the line up as series regulars for True Blood Season 7:

Amelia Rose Blaire. Amelia plays newly turned vampire Willa Burrell, the daughter of the anti-vampire, Sarah Newlin (Anna Camp) loving Governor Burrell (Arliss Howard). It will be very interesting to see how the dynamics between Willa, her maker Eric Northman, and her vampire sibling Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten) play out over Season 7

Karolina Wydra. Wydra played the vampire obssessed with Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten), Violet Mazurski. It seems Jason will be sexually frustrated a while longer with Violet being the ‘hard to get’ kind of vampire.

Luke Grimes. James plays the newest vampire spunk, James. He and Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) are currently an item and many fans are excited to be seeing more of James in Season 7

Who do you think will last to see the end of True Blood Season 7? Who’s relationships will last? Let us know in the comments below.